Paul Allen, others back Redfin

Redfin has landed $8 million in venture capital and expanded to the San Francisco Bay Area, an important market for the Seattle online real estate upstart.

Investors in the deal include Madrona Venture Group, BEV Capital, The Hillman Co. and Vulcan Capital, the investment arm of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. Redfin Chief Executive Glenn Kelman tells me in today’s story that the barriers to entry are quite low in the online real estate industry, so having deep pocketed investors is important.

“We know that to win this war we are going to need all sorts of resources,” said Kelman, adding that the company has revamped the Web site and added new features.

Here’s more coverage from The San Jose Mercury News, which points out that the company faces challenges in getting local brokers to work with the service and that Redfin buyers are sometimes at a disadvantage in multiple offer situations.

Paul Allen, others back Redfin

Redfin has landed $8 million in venture capital and expanded to the San Francisco Bay Area, an important market for the Seattle online real estate upstart.

Investors in the deal include Madrona Venture Group, BEV Capital, The Hillman Co. and Vulcan Capital, the investment arm of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. Redfin Chief Executive Glenn Kelman tells me in today’s story that the barriers to entry are quite low in the online real estate industry, so having deep pocketed investors is important.

“We know that to win this war we are going to need all sorts of resources,” said Kelman, adding that the company has revamped the Web site and added new features.

Here’s more coverage from The San Jose Mercury News, which points out that the company faces challenges in getting local brokers to work with the service and that Redfin buyers are sometimes at a disadvantage in multiple offer situations.